The present invention relates to a watch band and connector therefor wherein the band may be easily removed from the watch casing.
Traditionally, watch bands have been secured to watch casings through spring-loaded pins connectable through outwardly projecting lugs on the casing. While this mechanism fulfills the purpose for which it is intended, professional removal is usually required and the pins are easily lost when the spring restraint is removed.
Recently, for esthetic reasons, watches have been designed in which the band and watch give the appearance of being unitary and, indeed the actual soldering of band to watch has been used to provide a unitary decorative entity. Difficulties inherent in this approach are apparent in that the separation of band and watch must be done by an expert and often the watch must be returned to the factory. Also defects in the band effectively preclude the use of the watch.
It would be desirable, therefore to provide means for connecting the band to the watch casing which would give the appearance of a unitary entity, but which could be removed easily and without special tools.
An attempt to provide such a combination is set forth in Fuld U.S. Pat. No. 3,964,652 in which the casing lug is provided with a T-shaped receiving notch, which engages a T-shaped locking member. The long leg of the T-shaped member extends beyond the receiving notch and the band has an end connector portion featuring side walls perpendicular to the band and a top portion perpendicular to the side walls. When assembled, the bottom of the end portion overlies the outer portion of the lug, i.e., the part facing the wearer, while the top portion overlies the locking member. The long leg of the locking member extends beyond the top portion of the connector and is bent backwards to overlie the outer face of the connector thereby maintaining a locked connection between the casing and the band.
While such a combination does provide for easy joining and removal of the band and casing and also provides a satisfactory appearance, it suffers from some serious disadvantages. First, the T-shaped part must, of necessity be extremely thin and therefore is likely to break upon bending, either to lock the band to the casing or to remove it. Repairers must, therefore, keep replacement elements. Secondly, outward strain on the locking leg produced by normal wrist movement would produce shear or bending forces acting against the leg which might cause the band to separate from the casing.